


Death of a Bachelor

by Bustle



Series: Chrobin Week 2019 [7]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Chrobin Week 2019, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-25 14:51:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19747954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bustle/pseuds/Bustle
Summary: Chrobin Week 2019, Day 7 - PromiseAs a member of the royal family of Ylisse, Chrom knew that he would be expected to marry some day.





	Death of a Bachelor

Marriage had always loomed over Chrom’s life as an abstract inevitability.

Long before romance was ever an appealing prospect, he was forced to spend agonizing hours with stuffy tutors memorizing courting behavior and flower languages and a hundred other useless things.

“Milord, you _must_ learn proper manners so that you may conduct yourself as your station demands,” the tutors would remind him wearily as his attention meandered to greener pastures.

He even managed to retain some of it. More than enough, in his opinion. He couldn’t understand why everyone thought it so imperative he knew how to jump through these ridiculous hoops when it was going to be pushed on him regardless. Politics would drive nobles to vie for his hand matter how rough his manners.

Chrom bore no interest in it, but he understood too early that he had little say in the matter. Emm would defend his right to choose, he knew, but it would be expected of him. One day he would take a spouse. 

As Chrom matured into a young man things like kissing became a lot more attractive, but finding a starting point was more daunting a task than ever. 

Finding interest among his fellows at court wasn’t hard. It was sorting out the genuine interest in himself from interest in his station that felt impossible. Occasionally he found himself sneaking away from court functions to fool around on a secluded balcony, though much more often than not the hidden strings lurking behind such liaisons made it too complicated to bother with. 

Falling in love seemed terrifying and alien, riddled with violent passions. 

As the years passed love and romance remained a very distant priority. Lissa mocked her brother for being ‘doomed to marry Falchion as he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body,’ and he grimly felt that he could do much worse.

Truthfully he was still rather scared of falling in love, but he was equally scared of a marriage without it. 

Chrom was determined to at least marry on his own terms with someone he could consider a true partner, but how could he find love without trust? How could he let his guard down long enough to find a sincere connection in the slick, coy advances of the young nobles urged on by their families? 

He spent as little time around courtiers and their honeyed flirtations as possible.

Instead he poured his energy into the Shepherds and his swordplay and making himself a sturdy shield for Ylisse. His eventual spouse stayed a shapeless specter who never seemed any closer to materializing. He purposely thought very little on the matter. 

At some point amidst the stirrings of war his feelings shifted. Suddenly when he tried to picture a partner at his side it was laughably easy to bring a face to mind. A very expressive face with dark eyes that twinkled at him in amusement and lips that looked impossibly soft and the cutest nose in existence. Chrom hadn’t realized before that noses could be cute. Robin’s was, though. All of her was cute.

Around the third time he caught himself staring at how she gestured with her hands while she spoke, overcome with a powerful urge to catch one with his own and just _hold it,_ Chrom started to realize the depth of his infatuation with Robin. 

Alongside thinking about caging her hand like a bird and kissing it he discovered scores of other sentimental wants. He wanted to tuck her hair behind her ear while they spent hours poring over maps together. He wanted to make her laugh, and when he did he wanted to make her laugh again and more. 

His heart tried to beat out of his chest when she dozed off against his shoulder around the campfire. He sat still as his arm fell asleep under the weight of her head and somehow felt like the luckiest man in the world for it. 

It wasn’t just these wildly affectionate urges that had Chrom pondering a future with Robin. They had a connection like nothing he had ever felt before. Robin understood him in a unique way and it felt so natural despite knowing her for much less time than his other close friends.

Chrom never liked feeling that he was burdening a friend with his troubles, but he found himself confessing things to Robin he was generally not comfortable sharing with others. Opening up to her was like sinking into a warm bath after a long day.

It didn’t matter if he entrusted her with silly idle thoughts or his deepest fears. Robin handled it all with care. 

When he had a problem he wanted her opinion. When he had a secret joy he wanted to share it with her, although these days a large portion of his small joys tied back to Robin herself. Her sharp wit never ceased to delight him.

Marriage no longer looked like a thorny duty that demanded confrontation. It looked like a promise, like a happiness he could scarce imagine, like supporting each other through anything. He feared rejection, but not love itself. Loving Robin felt good. It felt _right._

Chrom wasn’t scared of marriage because when he thought _wife,_ he pictured Robin. Perhaps it was time to tell her so.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading my first entries to Chrobin week! Thank you as well to the Chrobin discord for giving me writing ideas and encouragement and to Chrom and Robin for being so damn fun to write about.
> 
> Title is from [Death Of A Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R03cqGg40GU)


End file.
